Distress Signal
by WallFlower4124
Summary: Shepard gets a distress signal from the one planet that she never wants to see again - but who will she take with her, and what will happen when they get there?
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone!

This is my second story, about an imagined return to Feros. Still with FemShep and Liara (of course!), but a slightly different look at different repercussions of them having a relationship on the Normandy. Please let me know what you think! Part II coming soon, hopefully! :D

-WallFlower4124

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**Distress Signal - Part I**

Shepard prepared to dive into the Galaxy Map. She loved looking through it, at all the planets and stars, all the places she could go, each one further away from the politics of the Citadel then the last.

"_You'd think that when Ambassador Unduin and the Council said that I didn't answer to them, they meant it,"_ Shepard mused. She didn't like their snooty attitude and they didn't enjoy her expressing her dislike so openly.

There were no missions that needed urgent attention, and her mind was filled with thoughts of Liara.

"_Maybe we could go to the Artemis Tau Cluster… Tell Joker I need to survey a… nice picnic spot. It __is__ where I found her. Could make some positive memories around the place… Yeah, I think that'd be-"_ Her thoughts were cut off by Joker's voice over the intercom: "I've picked up an emergency distress signal, Commander… But you're not going to like where it's coming from."

"Where, Joker?" Shepard asked, her brow furrowing.

"Feros. From the remnants of the colony, looks like maybe someone survived."

A flicker of pain passed through Shepard's eyes. Feros. The one rescue, the one place, the one time she had truly failed humanity. And now there was a signal there? It was impossible… Almost. She's seen the ruins. She'd caused them. But this could be her second chance, her only chance left and she wasn't going to fail that colony again.

"Let's go, Joker. Get us there fast."

As Joker copied and turned off the intercom, Shepard pulled out of the Galaxy Map, focusing on the next question: Who would she take? She thought deeply as she walked to her quarters.

"_The real issue is that I don't know what'll be down there. If we're going to be fighting through ruins, I'll need someone who can shoot long-range, but be good in close-combat as well… Unlikely to be anything too technological that I can't deal with, so I'll leave Tali. Ergh, I wish Ash wasn't on rec leave; I really could've used her on something like this. But it's good she sees her sisters every now and again."_ The sly voice that lived in the back of mind and only emerged in a dark time quietly spoke up, uttering words Shepard never wanted to hear: _"You'll need biotics. You know you will. You can't use brute force for everything, some things require more tact. And your biotics aren't powerful enough…"_ Shepard shook her head. No. She'd never take her into something like this. Not to Feros. It's too dangerous. _"I'll take Wrex and Garrus,"_ Shepard decided as she punched in the pass-code to her door. _"Between Wrex and I, out biotics'll be up to scratch. Garrus can deal with anything else, that way Liara's safe on the Normandy."_ The door to Shepard's quarters beeped softly as they opened and slid shut as she stepped inside. She turned to lock them when a voice from behind her said "You have to take me, Commander." Shepard yelped and twisted around, her hand flying to where her holster would be if she was wearing her armour. "If you send Garrus and Wrex in, your biotics will be too low and if any thing happened, you would be overpowered immediately."

Shepard glared at the Asari sitting on her bed. "No. We'll be fine and you're not coming." There was a pause. "How did you get in here, anyway?" Liara arched her perfectly-shaped eyebrow. "As soon as Joker got that signal, he knew what you'd do, and what you'd decide. He contacted me as soon as you walked away, and here I am."

Shepard ignored the fact that Joker knew her as well as Liara did and stored it in her pay-back list for things she owed Joker later.

"Well, you're both correct. I have made up my mind. I'm taking Garrus and Wrex, and that's final." Shepard tried to look away from Liara's deep blue eyes, but she couldn't find the willpower.

Liara sighed and stood up. "Ok, then."

Shepard stared at her. "Ok, then?" She repeated slowly.

"Ok then," replied Liara coolly. "You got to Feros with Wrex and Garrus. But after you're done there, you'll need to drop me off in the next galaxy."

"What?"

"I'm not selective as to where, just somewhere that has been colonised."

Liara started to walk around Shepard towards the door.

"No, Liara, wait! I don't understand-"

Liara turned around sharply, her words filled with fury and her biotics making her body glow ominously. "You will kill him! You know that if you go down there, there is almost no chance that Garrus would come back alive! And yet you will not send me! Yes, I am a scientist, but you know that I am the best biotic on this ship, you know that I can fight! And you still will not send me! I care for you, Shepard, deeply. But if that is going to get in the way of saving someone who has sent out a distress signal, then I would rather go and be with someone else who knows my talents and uses them appropriately!" And with a last look, Liara walked out and the door closed behind her. Shepard glared after her. Slowly she undressed and changed into her armour. When she walked up to Joker she glowered at him, openly. "Tell Wrex and… Dr T'Soni to suit up." Joker looked at her and opened his mouth, but Shepard cut him off before he could say anything.

""Now, Joker."

"Ma'am."


	2. Chapter 2

"Commander?"

"Yes, Liara?"

"If Joker's delivering us straight to the Docking Bay, why are we bringing the Mako?"

Shepard, Liara and Wrex were all standing next to the large vehicle, in the Entry/Exit Compartment of the Normandy, fully armed and ready to go.

"Joker couldn't get any scans of the area; he thinks the surrounding satellites may be offline for protection from the media. So, we don't know what we're going in to, or what state the ruins of Feros are in. Hence, the Mako."

"It's also useful for a quick get away," added Shepard in her mind, but Liara didn't need to know any more that she could guess.

"That reminds me," said Shepard, turning slightly to face Wrex as well, "whilst we're on Feros, even in the Mako, we have helmets up at all times. As I said, I don't know what's out there."

"Roger, Commander."

"Yup."

A moment later there was a shudder as Joker bought the Normandy to a halt in the Docking Bay. "Ready to deploy on your command, Ma'am," came Joker's voice over the intercom. Shepard looked at her team and replied. "Let's do this." As the outside doors opened, Shepard's eyes widened. The buildings immediately beyond the Bay were clearly unstable, swaying slightly in the breeze caused by the Normandy's landing. The streets were littered with rubble from the buildings… and the remains of people that Shepard recognised all too well.

Bad memories flashed across her mind. People without any self-control, the Asari clone, dying over and over again, the thick pollen that solidified the air…

"Commander?" Liara's voice jerked her back to reality and Shepard mentally shook herself. "Those streets are too narrow for the Mako and it'll get worse the further we go in, we'll have to do this mission on foot.

Her team nodded and stepped around the Mako, forming a triangle with their Commander as the point. Shepard stepped out of the Normandy and strode briskly up to the first corner of the street. She raised her arm and her amp lit up quickly, flickering once, before a clear picture formed of the surrounding area. A blinking light in the middle indicated the location of the distress signal.

"Ok, the signal's coming from the midst of where the Zu's Hope colony was. We'll try and go directly there, but we'll have to find another way if we can't get through on a direct route."

Liara looked over her should at the map. "Zu's Hope might have had spare food, water and medical supplies. I can understand why someone would shelter there," she commented in her soft Asari tones.

"Also a good place to get trapped," added Wrex, looking around warily. Shepard tried to ignore him.  
"Let's go."

A few minutes later the three soldiers were carefully picking their way through what used to be a street, directly outside the entrance of Zu's Hope. Everything looked like Shepard expected it to, except for the pollen. It was everywhere and had settled onto all objects and surfaces, like a carpet you could choke on.

"Shepard?" came Wrex's deep voice from her right, slightly muffled by the helmet. "Why's there so much pollen? I thought it would've gone by now?" Shepard had to think before answering.

"I'm really not sure. No one knew much about the Thorian, so…" But a thought cut across Shepard's mind. The Thorian. An ancient plant… She's destroyed it, yes, but she'd destroyed it underground in a concrete room. The ruins, all collapsed in such a way that she'd never get the Mako in, but still had a clear walk to the signal's location… Her mind flashed back to what Wrex had said, only moments ago. "Also a good place to get trapped…" She almost turned o run, to get her and her team, Liara, out of there, but she needed to know for sure. Calmly as she could, she clicked into her biotics, ignoring the questions from Wrex and Liara as light and power pulsed around her hand, and pushed aside some rubble in the street. Underneath was bare. No pollen, only dust. Ever so slowly, Shepard walked over to the dust-patch, with Wrex and Liara following. She bent down and smoothly wrote one work, knowing that when she stood up they had only seconds before whoever was watching them knew she'd figured it out.

**R U N**

Almost immediately the rubble around them shook and exploded, knocking them to the ground, and the clicking of hundreds of geth swirled with the explosion from every direction until it was deafening. Shepard leapt up and once again activated her biotics, casting a barrier around her, seeing Wrex and Liara do the same. And, in the one second she had before the dust and 'pollen' from the explosion cleared, Commander Shepard ran.


End file.
